



\ 



William l^cmptr Wt&i 




WILLIAM KEMPER WEST 






an appreciation 



William temper Wm 

X A Charge, lS Class of Nine- 
teen Hundred and Six. 
Entered ^ April Seven- 
teenth, Nineteen Hundred 
and Eleven. 




Privately Printed 

Washington Graduate Association, Washington, D. C. 

Nineteen Hundred and Eleven 



<^c£ 



TO A DEPARTED FRIEND ^ ^0*N 

By Robert Louis Stevenson 

Though he, that ever kind and true 
Kept stoutly step by step with you 
Your whole long gusty lifetime through 

Be gone a while before, 
Be now a moment gone before 
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore 

Your friend to you. 

He has but turned a corner — still 
He pushes on with right good will, 
Thro' mire and marsh, by hough and hill, 

That selfsame arduous way — 
That selfsame, upward, hopeful way 
That he and you, through many a doubtful day, 

Attempted still. 

He is not dead — this friend — not dead, 
But in the paths we mortals tread 
Got some few trifling steps ahead, 

And nearer to the end, 
So that you, too, once past the bend 
Shall meet again as face to face this friend 

You fancy dead. 

Push gayly on, strong heart! the while 
You travel forward mile* by; mile, 
He loiters with a backw^d*smile, 

Till you can overtake, 
And strains his eyes to search this wake, 
Or, whistling as he sees you thro' the brake, 

Waits on a stile. 



ft 



Wauuux 



WILLIAM KEMPER WEST 

William Kemper West, X A '06, died in Seattle, Washington, April 17, 
191 1, of spinal meningitis. 

He had left his wife and child at their home in Portland, Oregon, a few 
days before to attend to business matters in connection with his law practice 
at Seattle, and the end came suddenly. He was but twenty-seven years old, 
and the news of his death, coming without warning, brought great distress 
and a sense of irreparable loss to people who knew him. His youthfulness 
and apparent tirelessness and the depth of his many interests in life promised 
a long and most useful career. 

He was initiated into the Fraternity February 4, 1903, and his devotion, 
sincerity and zeal as a worker rendered him a splendid example of brother- 
hood. His power for good was the greater because the charm of his person- 
ality and his noble nature were so easily felt and realized by all who knew 
him. 

The same zeal and loyalty that marked his fraternal life were apparent 
in other walks of life. In college and law school, where I knew him inti- 
mately, he was looked up to and admired by all men alike, and was fre- 
quently honored by his classmates with responsible positions in class or- 
ganizations. Always he was active in searching out and working for the 
general good. 

Before the close of his Junior year he left college and went to Panama 
with his father in connection with the work of the Isthmian Canal Com- 
mission. His departure from college was marked by an incident that ex- 
pressed in some measure the depth of the love and the high appreciation of 
those who knew him best. There was presented to him at this time a medal, 
bearing the shield of the Fraternity, and inscribed with the words, "To Billy, 
a True Theta Delt." The medal was the gift of the active men in the X A 
Charge, and a few of his more intimate friends among the graduates. 

Upon the sudden death of his father in Panama, from yellow fever, he 
returned to the United States, and took up the study of law. 

While a student at the law school he was employed in The Isthmian 
Canal Commission in Washington, where he labored faithfully during the 



day and often for long periods at night, yet he kept up his studies, and found 
time to organize and teach a Bible class of young men. At all times and 
under all circumstances he was a matchless friend — true, helpful and affec- 
tionate. 

After completing his course in the law school in 1908, he was married to 
Miss Helen Beale, of Washington, and moved to Portland, Oregon, where for 
about two years he was an agent of the Interior Department. The work 
necessitated long periods of separation from his family, and the hardships 
and exposure of constant travel in the mountain regions of Oregon. Here 
the writer knew him again as a dutiful, cheerful, Christian man, absolutely 
indomitable and unflinching in the face of anything. 

He spent the last year of his life practicing law in Portland, having 
resigned his position in the Interior Department. His capacity for good as 
a lawyer was unbounded. His enthusiasm and industry and his naturally 
legal mind would have combined to make him an ornament and a power in 
the profession. 

In conclusion one can only say: 

"Through such souls alone, 
God, stooping, shows 
Sufficient of his light 
For us i* the dark to rise by." 

S. Randolph Mason, X a '07. 



Iftejsolutfonjs 

Whereas, Our Heavenly Father, in his infinite wisdom and infinite mercy, 
has seen fit to summon from this earthly life to a grander life of immortality, 
a brother of our beloved Fraternity and of our beloved Charge, William K. 
West, X a 'o6; and 

Whereas, Brother William K. West was universally honored for his high 
ideals and upright, manly character, respected for his attainments and 
demonstrated ability, and loved by all who knew him for his kindly, helpful 
affection, and by his brothers for his magnetic enthusiasm and untiring de- 
votion and service to the Charge and the Fraternity and for his unfailing 
cheerfulness, determination and buoyant good humor; and 

Whereas, The brothers of X A feel deeply the sudden and irreparable 
loss that has come upon them; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Governing Boards of the Washington Graduate Asso- 
ciation and of the X A Charge in special and joint meeting assembled, do express 
in this feeble form their overwhelming sorrow at the sudden and untimely 
death of Brother West; and do convey their heartfelt sympathy to the 
stricken family; and be it also 

Resolved, That they attend the funeral in a body, and order that the 
badges of all X A brothers be draped in mourning for a period of thirty days 
from date hereof; and be it furthermore 

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes of the X A 
Charge and of the Washington Graduate Association, and that a copy be 
sent to the family and to The Shield. 

For the Washington Graduate Association of A X, 

Leonard M. Cox, A '92, 

President. 

Walter H. Lee, X a '06, 

Secretary. 

For the X A Charge, 

Eugene W. Bond, X a '12, 

President. 

Norman Raymond, X a '14, 

Secretary. 



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